Help

Newsletter

Celebrating African-American history every year

The world witnessed the inauguration of President Barack Obama. History writers will offer chronicles and evaluations of his service as the first African-American president.

He is the president of all Americans, regardless of political or partisan affiliations. Ironically, President Obama begins his second term in 2013, while his opponents continually seek ways and means to limit voting rights.

As an African-American woman who came of age during the 1960s, I watched both inaugurals with indescribable joy. The survival stories of my great-grandparents and my grandparents, the civil rights struggles of my parents, and my own human rights demands laid the historical backdrop for me.

African-American History Month is celebrated in February. The national theme for the celebration of African American History Month is decided by the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH), an organization started by Dr. Carter G. Woodson who instituted the celebration of Negro (Black or African American) History Month. The 2013 theme is “At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington.”

Many years ending with three hold significance in African-American history. For example: 2013 — Second inauguration of President Obama; 2003 — U.S. Supreme Court rules that race can be one of the determinants for colleges when accepting students; 1993 — Dr. Jocelyn Elders becomes first female and first African-American U.S. Surgeon General; 1983 — President Ronald Reagan proclaims the third Monday of January a federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; 1973 – Maynard Jackson and Coleman Young become first black mayors of Atlanta and Detroit, respectively; 1963 — An estimated 250,000 people stage March on Washington, and Henrie Monteith, one of three African-American students desegregates USC, becomes first African-American graduate two years later; 1863 — President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation.

In 1963, Dr. King reminded the United States of America: …The writers “of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence ... [signed] a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all [Americans] would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Dr. King observed: “America has defaulted on this promissory note…”

His words are relevant in 2013. Too many Americans “[live] on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity… . Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”